Ken Takakura

Like American film star John Wayne, Ken Takakura has defined the Japanese man and has had a prolific superstar film career, appearing in more than 200 films, shifting from "yakuza" or crime-action fil...
Read More...

Japanese movie star Ken Takakura has died, aged 83. The actor passed away at a hospital in Tokyo, Japan on 10 November (14) after a battle with lymphoma.
Takakura's death has prompted a flood of tributes on Twitter.com from fellow Japanese celebrities including Thor: The Dark World star Tadanobu Asano, who expressed his sadness in a message posted on the social networking website.
Takakura began his career in film in the 1950s and became known for his portrayal of movie tough guys, rising to international fame with a role 1970 war film Too Late the Hero with Henry Fonda and Sir Michael Caine.
He followed it up by appearing in Sydney Pollack's 1971 drama The Yakuza, playing a Japanese gangster opposite Robert Mitchum, and he went on to star with Michael Douglas in 1989 action movie Black Rain.
His other films include The Yellow Handkerchief, Poppoya and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.
Takakura won the best actor trophy at the Japanese version of the Academy Awards four times and was honoured for his career achievements with Japan's Order of Culture award last year (13).

Ikebe, who appeared in more than 150 movies throughout his career, passed away on Friday (08Oct10), his family has confirmed.
He made his acting debut in 1941 movie Togyo (Fighting Fish) but took a brief hiatus to serve in the Japanese military.
He resumed his acting career in 1945 and rose to fame starring in films including Akatsuki no Dasso (Desertion at Dawn), Soshun (Early Spring), and 1949 black and white film Aoi Sanmyaku (The Green Mountains).
In the 1960s and 1970s, he became well-known for starring with actor Ken Takakura in a series of yakuza movies, about the Japanese mafia.
Ikebe received further acclaim as a best-selling writer - his 1991 autobiography Soyokaze toki niwa Tsumujikaze (A Light Breeze and Sometimes a Whirlwind) won a special honour as part of the Japan Literary Awards.
Ikebe last appeared as an actor in 2002 drama series Natsu no Hi no Koi (Love on a Summer's Day), and he continued writing essays for a Tokyo magazine until last year (09).

Title

Became star of Japanese mainstream films with "Hakkodasan" and "The Yellow Handkerchief"

Feature film debut in "Denko Karate-uchi"

First appearance in a US feature, "Too Late the Hero"

Summary

Like American film star John Wayne, Ken Takakura has defined the Japanese man and has had a prolific superstar film career, appearing in more than 200 films, shifting from "yakuza" or crime-action films to more mainstream fare. He thrice received the Japanese Academy Award as Best Actor and has on occasion appeared in English-language films. A graduate of Meiji University, Takakura studied commerce, but turned to acting soon after graduation, making his screen debut in 1955 in "Denko Karate-uchi". He toiled for about a decade before becoming a bona fide star with a string of Japanese hits in the mid-60s, more frequently playing men of the current era rather than mythical samurai or heroic icons of the glory days. When legendary Hollywood director Robert Aldrich needed an actor to play the Japanese officer pursuing Cliff Robertson and Michael Caine in "Too Late the Hero" (1970), he turned to Takakura, who stole the picture. He did the same playing a crime boss for Sydney Pollack in his next English-language effort, "The Yakuza" (1975). Takakura did not pursue any ongoing connection with Hollywood, but rather continued to make Japanese hits, including "Eki/Station" (1981), "Antarctica" (1982), and "A Un/Buddies" (1989), films with little release in the West. Hollywood called again in 1989 with "Black Rain", in which Takakura was Andy Garcia's Japanese police connection, and for "Mr. Baseball" (1992), in which Takakura instructs Tom Selleck on how to play an American game in a foreign land. Takakura next appeared in Kon Ichikawa's international hit "47 Ronin" (1994). The drama "Railroad Man" (1999) and Yasuo Furuhata's acclaimed "The Firefly" (2001) followed. Zhang Yimou's "Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles" (2005) and Furuhata's "Dearest" (2012) proved to be the semi-retired Takakura's final films. Ken Takakura died of lymphoma on November 10, 2014, at the age of 83.

Name

Role

Comments

Education

Name

Meiji University

Notes

"Ken Takakura is the most important actor in Japan. He has been the only superstar and undisputed king of Japanese movies. Like John Wayne or James Dean, he is much more than an actor. Takakura is one of the most important forces in post-war Japan: because of the level of popular culture, he singlehandedly redefined the role of the Japanese man for post-war society. In short, he showed Japan how to live in the modern world." --Leonard Schrader, co-writer, "The Yakuza".